Everyone who wants an honest Supreme Court should be prepared for:
* Justice retirements
* conditioned on confirmation of a Pres. Trump nominee
* simultaneous nominations
* hurry-up Senate conf. processes
* if GOP loses Senate, moves in lame duck session
* bullpen appointments.
On the blog today, @espinsegall.bsky.social describes how, in his speech equating progressivism with totalitarianism, Justice Thomas shamelessly acknowledgd his benefactor Harlan Crow, never having expressed any reservations or remorse about even the appearance of corruption. 👇
Important. Deeply dismaying conduct—lawless policymaking—by Chief Justice Roberts and four other Supreme Court justices. Not on the level. Judging dirty.
Which business contacts convinced him & them that they needed to do this monkey wrenching of environmental policy and ordinary litigation??
Jon is absolutely right about this!
B of A is planning to force its customers into mandatory arbitration, a rigged system that would make it a lot easier for the Bank to break the law and get away with it.
But people can avoid this, and opt out, and they SHOULD.
Justice Clarence Thomas’s April 15 speech at the University of Texas was, Matt Ford writes here, “a 50-ish-minute exercise in leveling the complexity and nuance of our nation’s history in favor of attacking one’s perceived enemies.” Really, it’s an embarrassment to honesty and, well, good judgment.
I caught a glimpse of Joe DiGenova’s name in a headline, assumed it was his obituary, and thought something like, “How sad, he never made it back from hack/nut to being a smart, sober, law person….”
Then I read the news. Joe doing this, at 81 or any age, might be sadder than if he’d passed away.
If you'll be in Manhattan tomorrow, join us at this New York Law School conference on Constitutionalism, Rule of Law, Democracy, and the tremendous impact of Professor Jack Balkin.
My lecture topic:
“A Constitutional Rot in Us:
Applauding Justices for Their Constitutional Law Decisions."
If you'll be in Albany, NY, or online tomorrow, join us for this @albanylaw.bsky.social program on Justice Robert H. Jackson.
Preview of my lecture--
You might have heard or read otherwise, but in fact:
* Jackson went to law school.
* He graduated.
* Indeed, Jackson went to college!
New York City, Friday, April 17th:
Please join us at New York Law School for this conference on Constitutionalism, Rule of Law, Democracy, and the tremendous impact of Professor Jack Balkin.
www.nyls.edu/events/const...
Someday, someone is going to make a movie about the tech-bros who recklessly dismantled the professional US administrative state and it’s going to be devastating.
Gripping excerpt from “Into the Wood Chipper,” Nicholas Enrich. h/t @marisakabas.bsky.social
www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usai...
Please join us today online, 1200 EDT, for this program and what’s sure to be a good discussion of Nuremberg and international justice generally.
The biggest U.S. war victory happened on April 9, 1865.
#OTD
"Wait, I thought that Jackson never went to law school," said someone who needs factual information.
Albany, NY:
Join us at Albany Law School next Wed., April 15, for this program on ALS alumnus Robert H. Jackson (Class of 1912)--register here.
@albanylaw.bsky.social
www.albanylaw.edu/about/events...
Here's a new #JacksonList essay on a big talent addition to the U.S. Department of Justice.... in 1936.
Professor Felix Frankfurter congratulates Uncle Sam and Robert H. Jackson on April 8, 1936.
#OTD
thejacksonlist.com/2026/04/08/c...
Yes, Hitler.
Every U.S. official, civilian and military, should remember and emulate the German officials who refused to carry out Hitler’s 1944 orders to destroy Paris and his 1945 orders to destroy Germany.
Here’s Alice Kaplan’s excellent review of the very flawed & sadly fictionalized movie “Nuremberg”—what a missed opportunity the movie was to do right by a historical event that is deeply relevant to all of us and top challenges today.
@nybooks.com
President Trump is a madman. Read this, think clearly, and act urgently, lawfully, to get him out of office, especially if you are in the Cabinet, Congress, or his family.
April 6, 1917: President Woodrow Wilson asking a joint session of Congress to declare war on Germany. (AP photo)
Under the U.S. Constitution, the President may not initiate war; the power to declare war belongs to Congress (Art. I.8.11).
This was President Woodrow Wilson on April 6, 1917, asking a joint session of Congress to declare war on Germany (and both houses of Congress then did so).
#OTD
Fascinating article.
And how is this not predication to investigate Mr. Chalker criminally for illegal disclosure of classified information (if DOJ still does regular, traditional law enforcement)?
A giant who never had a major fall.
No, Mitchell was not ousted; he was in “good” stature when resigned to run the reelection campaign.
Not joking. It would be wonderful for the country and probably for her too if Pam Bondi did some deep reflecting, found remorse, and decided to talk publicly, fully, truthfully about what she’s been part of and done. Cf. some great predecessors: John Dean, Charles Colson, Alan Fiers, et al.
Corrupt, criminal, problem, and/or discredited U.S. Attorneys General who were ousted, & their better and worse successors:
Daugherty-Stone
Murphy-Jackson
McGrath-McGranery
Kleindienst-Richardson
Meese-Thornburgh
Gonzales-Mukasey
Sessions-Barr
Bondi-Blanche (Acting)
She was qualified. But she chose to be corrupt.
Good riddance to Attorney General Bondi.
The problem for the U.S., DOJ, and law is that she has not been fired for her wrongdoing. She has been fired for not being better at doing wrong.
April 1, 1940:
U.S. Attorney General Robert H. Jackson gave his rightly famous speech, “The Federal Prosecutor,” on using power ethically in the Department of Justice.
Hope that DOJ can get back to being right.
Here’s a #JacksonList essay.
thejacksonlist.com/2026/04/01/t...
Remembering Adam Schlesinger. Listening, always, to his superb music.
@fountainsofwayne.bsky.social
I hope that the Supreme Court deciding Chiles v. Salazar on International Transgender Day of Visibility was just a bad coincidence. Cf. the converse, Barnette coming down on Flag Day 1943 because it was ready & June 14 was the next SCOTUS decision day (only Mondays, then).
But still—be more aware.
Robert H. Jackson doubted that there’s an afterlife.
But if happens to be watching, this coming book news is making him very happy.
(See of course his 1941 book, The Struggle for Judicial Supremacy, plus his anti-supremacy Supreme Court opinions.)
Congratulations!